The First One to Speak Loses

Epigraph is from one of my favorite books.

What we, or at any rate what I, refer to confidently as memory—meaning a moment, a scene, a fact that has been subjected to a fixative and thereby rescued from oblivion—is really a form of storytelling that goes on continually in the mind and often changes with the telling. Too many conflicting emotional interests are involved for life ever to be wholly acceptable, and possibly it is the work of the storyteller to rearrange things so that they conform to this end. In any case, in talking about the past we lie with every breath we draw.

—William Maxwell, So Long, See You Tomorrow

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Day Eight: July 9, 2013

Revised, expanded, rearranged, and cut. That's what today was about. Math involved too: I can tell you there are 9 scenes in Chapter One, and 6 scenes in Chapter Two. I can also tell you that the first two pages contain 40 objects / concrete nouns (some repeated), and 12 body parts. What's missing are landmarks, which I may go back and add. The hard part is cutting. especially when you like what's on the page. But, alas, if it slows the narrative, and doesn't move the story along, thus not serving the piece, then goodbye. As of this minute I'm at the midpoint, Chapter Five. I will continue with the same strategy and see how it goes.

Early this evening when I peeled my tush out of the chair I snapped a few photos of the interior of the cottage. Pardon my housekeeping . . .








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